Policy

Practice

Poster abstracts of the month

The SPPC Annual Conference in 2017 featured 46 poster displays, sharing work and research underway across Scotland. Each month, the SPPC blog focuses on the content of a few of these posters. This month, we focus on six of these:

A full list of posters from the 2017 SPPC Annual Conference is available here: Poster displays 2017.

Sharing your practice

The SPPC hosts a 'sharing current Scottish practice' blog as a platform for people to share examples of current Scottish palliative care practice that might be of interest to the palliative care community more widely. If you know of work underway that might be relevant for sharing on our website, please get in touch.

We are also curating a series of shows that deal with issues related to death, dying and bereavement, including Fringe favourite Pip Utton's solo show about Alzheimer's, called And Before I Forget I Love You, I Love You, and Vicar of Dibley writer Paul Mayhew-Archer's show Incurable Optimist, about his Parkinson's diagnosis.

Tickets for all shows are available now. Full listings are on the Death on the Fringe website, with more to follow.

Small Grants Available: To Absent Friend festival

We are again running a small grants scheme to support organisations to participate in the To Absent Friends festival of storytelling and remembrance, which takes place between 1 - 7 November.The festival gives people across Scotland an excuse to remember, to tell stories, to celebrate and to reminisce about people they love who have died, reviving lost traditions and creating new ones.

Grants are available for up to £250, and we encourage creative and innovative ideas that are appropriate to local groups and communities. We are particularly keen to support small organisations to undertake local activities that provide public opportunities for storytelling and/or remembrance of people who have died.

Feedback from the recent Everyday Compassion Conference indicated that many people would like to get involved in practical work to build compassion in their own community. We are therefore collecting contact details of people who would be interested in working with others in their local area to create a Compassionate Community. We can then share contact details, enabling people to get in touch with other like-minded people in their own area.

Eventually, we hope to build on this to establish a Scottish Compassionate Communities Network, where learning, ideas and inspiration can be shared across Scotland. We will also explore what Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief might be able to do to provide further, practical support to those wishing to create compassionate communities. If you would like to be involved in local work, or would like to be involved in the new Scottish Compassionate Communities Network, please complete this online form.

Everyday Compassion Conference - presentations available

The Everyday Compassion conference in April saw over 200 delegates gather to discuss ways to encourage more open and supportive attitudes and behaviours towards death, dying and bereavement in Scotland. Audio recordings of plenary speakers are now available on our website.

Other News

New report: 'The Experience of the Experienced'

Scottish Care has published The Experience of the Experienced, a new report exploring the employment journeys of experienced and older individuals working in nursing home, care home, care at home and housing support organisations.

Palliative Care Guidelines Impact Survey

Healthcare Improvement Scotland are seeking feedback on the use of the Palliative Care Guidelines.

The Dundas Medal

The closing date for the second annual Dundas Medal, in honour of Dr Bertie Dundas, is 4 July 2018. The award is open to individuals or teams (medical, nursing or paramedical) in the UK working to improve the provision of palliative care for patients when they are in hospital.

In the media

The SPPC does not undertake a comprehensive media monitoring service. Listed below are some of the stories relevant to palliative and end of life care that have appeared in the media in recent weeks.

Darkness & Depression…. when darkness falls and depression descends

Effective Non-Medical Prescribing in End of Life Care

Organised by Health Care Conference UK. 16 July 2018, London. More information is available here: weblink.

Open information session at the Marie Curie Hospice, Edinburgh

All are welcome to visit the Marie Curie Hospice, Edinburgh, to learn more about the services offered and meet some of the Clinical Team. Afternoon sessions are from 2pm to 4pm and are on the following dates in 2018: 17th July, 21st September and 8th November. For further information and to book a place, please contact Barbara McRobbie on 0131 470 2201

Death on the Fringe Lecture series

Organised by Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief and the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care, in association with Just Festival.